School board now preparing for Feb. 9 referendum
CARIBOU, Maine — The State Board of Education unanimously granted a new preK-8 school in Caribou to be placed where Teague Park currently stands during their Dec. 14 meeting at Casco Bay High School in Portland.
The new school project has been in the works for well over a year, and a building committee consisting of RSU 39 board members, employees of PDT Architects in Portland, and Caribou community figures, has carefully planned each step of the process.
Moving forward, the building committee is preparing for a Feb. 9 referendum, in which residents in RSU 39 territory (Caribou, Limestone and Stockholm) have the opportunity to approve the project. Voters, according to the building committee, will have two options. The first is to go with the base project, which comes with a $45,640,112 price tag. The SBOE has already agreed to fund $45,464,963 of this while $175,149 of this cost will go to local taxpayers.
The locally funded portion of the base project includes a sloped roof, the addition of wood in the main hall to improve the building’s aesthetic, improving window sills to prevent warping and rot, and adding triple glazed windows to the Superintendent’s office to cut down on energy costs.
The second option, expansion of the school’s gym and music room space, requires an additional $2,502,423 of local money. These costs, according to RSU 39 Business Manager Mark Bouchard, would be spread out over the course of 20 years in an effort to minimize the tax burden.
Local residents voted with near unanimous approval to accept the base project and expansions during a Nov. 17 straw poll.
A fundraising effort, called “Friends of Caribou Schools” was formed earlier this year by Sam Collins and Ron Willey. Their goal is to raise at least one million dollars and reduce the tax impact that goes along with expanding the gym and music room.
If voters approve the addition, the total building will expand by 7,624 square feet, bringing the base total of 115,643 square feet up to 123,267 square feet.
RSU 39 presented a project schedule during their Dec. 14 meeting with the State Board of Education which outlines every step of process. While the schedule is subject to change, the end goal is to have children occupying and attending the new school by fall of 2020.
The school board will take several steps between now and then, including the completion of design and construction documents, putting the project out to bid, receiving final funding approval, and the actual construction of the new school.
The preK-8 building will replace four existing facilities: Hilltop Elementary School, Teague Park Elementary School, Caribou Middle School, and the Caribou Learning Center. Once the project begins, these buildings will fall under the city’s jurisdiction, at which point they can decide to either demolish or repurpose the facilities.
